Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-12-06
THE MODERN eEpsrEAp.
Why Beds Should DC Placed won Above
the Level OF the Floor.

| why Dous ShOuid bo Placed Wou Above
| the Lovei OF the Floor.
Primitive and Oriental people lie on
the ground or on carpet, bed or
mattress which Is laid on tho ground
Modern Western civilization is not
satisfied with this; 1t demands bed
steads, with legs that shall raise the
sleepor well above the floor level Is
any sound scientific Justification of
this latter practice discoverableP l
think there is. and that my cxplana-
tion will prove that the question is not
so frivolous as it may at first sight ap-
pear. A worry interesting paper was
read before the Society of Arts by DIR.
Percy F. Frankland, in which, among
other matters. he described expert
ments made by himself and others,
proving that microb bia, pathogenic
and otherwise. do not remain sus-
pended in still air; they fall much
moro freely than might be supposed
from what is known concerning infec-
tion by poison germs floating in the
air. Hesse's experiments show
this clearly. Koch's method of test
ing for the existence OF
microbia in the air was to expose
dishes or strips Of glass containing
gelatinous solid films On these the
microbir fall and find abundant nutri-
ment. and multiply accordingly, FORM
ing colonies that may be counted. and
may be examined with the microscope.
But this only indicates the numbers
falling on given area, not the num-
bers contained In given measure Of
air To determine these, Hesse used
tubes about thrco feot long and one
and one-half inches in diameter. in
ternally coated with the sterile nutri-
tious gelatine-peptone. A measured
quantity of air was drawn slowly
through tho tubes, when It was dis
covered that the colonies were all at
the bottom Of the tube, and not evenly
distributed even over tho bottom, but
were more or less crowded together at
tho end where the air entered, and
moro and moro sparsely distributed
further inward until the latter half Of
the tube was almost entirely free. The
microbia had all fallen down In
the course Of tho short journey
of the air. Tho mold colo
mics spread all along the tube, show
ing that fungus germs float in the sir,
while bacterie fall Other expert
ments show that In an ordinary apart
ment tho questionable organisms are
more and moro abundant, descending
from ceiling to floor. Therefore the
raising of our beds we'll above tho Lowell
OF tho floor places us In better at
so far as these microbia are
concerned, than II We slept as in the
East This Is especially the case II
the air of the room Is still, as Is usually
tho case IN the bedrooms Of these lati-
tudes In rooms OF tho old oriental
pattern, without window glass, the
case is somewhat different 1t may be
supposed that carbonic acid being |
heavier than mir. there is much moro
near the floor than n little higher.
Owing 10 tho diffusibility Of the gas,
this, however. Is not the case In any
degree. Tho carbonio |
acid we expire gets an upward start
on leaving our lungs; the mixture ex-
pired Is, except in hot weather, spe-
officially lighter than that which We
inspire on account of Its higher tenn
- Gentlemen Magazine